The enactment of the anti-homosexuality law has come back to haunt Uganda after the US government imposed a series of punitive actions against the country.

The US on Thursday last week announced it had imposed visa restrictions, cancelled a military exercise, diverted funds for a health institution to another country and cut funding for the Uganda Police programme. This was in response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act that imposes harsh penalties for same-sex relations.

“It is regrettable that the US has decided to take such a stand, but there are more areas of co-operation between the US and Uganda,” said Foreign Affairs communications officer Fred Opolot.

Senior US administration officials, speaking before the announcement by the White House, said the stepped-up measures were carefully targeted at those responsible for abuses related to the implementation of the anti-gay law and involved in corruption.

While it did not specify the amount of funding affected, the sanctions appear tailored to satisfy an important political constituency in the US while striving to maintain a strategic partnership with Uganda.

READ: US mulls response to Uganda’s anti-gay law but no easy answers

The announcement came just a fortnight after the US made a decision to suspend all direct aid to the National Medical Stores (NMS) with immediate effect, over alleged mismanagement of funds.

The decision puts the health of at least half a million Ugandans living with HIV/Aids at risk of deteriorating.

Aid in excess of $5 million annually was frozen a fortnight ago, and an immediate independent forensic audit ordered into what the US government said were allegations of mismanagement at NMS, Daniel Travis, the public affairs officer at the US embassy in Uganda, said.

Thorough investigations

“As a result of both mismanagement of funds and poor performance under its funding agreements with the United States through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief as documented by various audits requested by the agencies of the US mission, it was determined that, at this time, we are unable to procure, manage, or distribute US-funded commodities through NMS,” he said.

Mr Travis said support would only resume after thorough investigations into the mismanagement of the funds were completed and recommendations implemented.

“We have provided NMS with a detailed corrective action plan designed to address our concerns. Should NMS fulfil the requirements outlined in this plan, one day we may resume a working partnership. Until that day we will provide needed and timely medical supplies to the people of Uganda through other channels.”

The National Medical Stores is responsible for ensuring continuous distribution of pharmaceutical products across the country. It distributes various drugs, which include essential drug kits, drugs to treat sexually transmitted infections, family planning products and Ministry of Health direct distributions to the districts.

The support to NMS is part of the funding of the fight against HIV/Aids.

However, NMS spokesman Dan Kimosho said his organisation had neither received information to this effect nor been investigated by government agencies over mismanagement of funds.

“As far as I am concerned, we have clear channels of communication. We haven’t heard any information on this and as such I would treat it as a rumour. Otherwise if this were true, by now the IGG [Inspectorate of Government] and CID [Crime Intelligence and Investigations Department] would have swung into action,” he said.

This is not the first time the activities of the NMS have come under scrutiny of agencies of the US Department of State. Early this year, the US embassy in Kampala reported that USAid and the Centres for Disease Control had questioned NMS’s supply chains and found certain aspects of it wanting.

The US agencies questioned the use of funds disbursed over a five-year project to purchase HIV testing kits and other laboratory supplies, which prompted an investigation.

The agencies then suspended support and recommended alternative distribution channels for the HIV testing kits while the probe was ongoing.

Antiretroviral treatment

About half a million Ugandans living with HIV/Aids receive life-saving antiretroviral treatment funded by US assistance.

“These actions are the result of the United States’ commitment to accountability, efficiency, and good stewardship of all funds provided by the American people in the response to the HIV/Aids epidemic. It is our duty to ensure that all such funding is used as efficiently and effectively as possible to aid the people for whom it is intended,” said Travis.

The United States early this year suspended some aid to Uganda’s Ministry of Health, in its first concrete move reported in response to the passing of the anti-homosexuality law.

The US says it is reviewing its ties with Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law the anti homosexuality legislation on February 24. The law criminalises same gender sexual orientation, with gay persons given jail terms of up to life imprisonment upon conviction.

Reported by Kevin Kelley and Barbara Among